Barr Helen Mbakwe, a senatorial contender in Anambra State, bemoaned the exorbitant cost of governance in Nigeria and said that no nation can prosper by squandering its resources.
Mbakwe, a senatorial candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), claimed that the country’s elites are living opulent lives while the general populace is left with little.
Speaking to journalists in Anambra State on Monday, the former banker-turned-lawyer demanded a sharp reduction in the cost of government, stating that one of the reasons she wants to serve in the Senate is to help draft legislation that will prevent leaders of the nation from wasting taxpayer money.
She said: “I’m not a regular politician, but seeing the yearnings for a new Nigeria, I am compelled to run for office, to be a part of the making of the new country we seek.
“The cost of governance is simply too high, we need lawmakers who will make laws to curb the waste we experience in government, and I can tell you that you cannot pour new wine in an old container.”
According to her: “We need a crop of politicians who are entirely new, not the over-recycled politicians who we have today.”
Her choice of NNPP, she said, was deliberate.
“Because of the new Nigeria it offers us. I believe that if we hope for a new Nigeria, we should also yearn for an entirely new crop of leaders,” Mbakwe said.